ROOTS & BRANCHES

The Ohio Genealogical Society bills itself as the “largest state genealogical society in the United States” and while I’m not sure what metric they use for that designation, I can certainly vouch for them as a well-organized group.

From publications to county chapters to a library, OGS really checks all the boxes expected of a state society.

They also annually produce an outstanding conference that’s a highlight of the calendar for anyone who lives in Ohio, can easily get to Ohio, or has roots in Ohio—which is a lot of people in the United States (And let me get my conflict-of-interest statement out of the way: starting in 2010, I’ve been a presenter at this conference).

This year’s conference is scheduled for April 26–29 at Kalahari Resort and Convention Center in Sandusky, Ohio, and features four days filled with workshops, lectures, lunches, and other events, all with the theme of “What Brought Them Here, 1803–2023.”

I’m wearing several hats this time around at the event.

As interim executive director for the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania, I collaborated with the Historical Society of Pennsylvania to be a top tier sponsor (which OGS calls  “Zane’s Trace” this year) of the conference, so GSP will have a booth in the exhibit hall.

As part of that sponsorship, I was motivated by seeing the intense interest in Pennsylvania genealogy among the OGS attendees—which makes sense since Pennsylvania was a major feeder of migration to Ohio—to help create a three-hour workshop titled “Nuts & Bolts, Bells & Whistles: Pennsylvania Genealogy Boot Camp!” for the conference.

The folks at OGS were so excited by the workshop idea that they scheduled it for two slots during the conference—on Wednesday (April 26), the traditional workshop day, and an encore session on Saturday (April 29). As of this writing, the Wednesday workshop is sold out but spots remain for Saturday’s session.

I assembled a team of Shamele Jordon (producer of “Genealogy Quick Start” and presenter for African American tracks at genealogy institutes), Katy Bodenhorn Barnes (director of genealogical services and programs for HSP), and Marilyn Holt (retired director of the Pennsylvania Department at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh) to run the workshop and help people with their Pennsylvania research problems.

At 5 p.m. Friday (April 28), Jordon’s “Genealogy Quick Start TV,” a three-year-old biweekly program that gives step-by-step instructions on family history topics, will go live from the conference. In addition to Jordon as the host, the program includes me and Michael John Neill (a “featured speaker” at the OGS conference) as regular guests.

And if that’s not enough, I will give for solo lectures at the conference on topics ranging

It should be a busy, exhausting, but fulfilling conference! Discounted registration is available until March 17 and information can be found at the URL, https://www.ogs.org/2023-conference/